Remembering and Obsessing Over ‘Felicity’ (Part I)

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably have noticed that I have a slight obsession with the TV show Felicity as of late. I’ve been quoting lines and referencing scenarios of the show as if it was real — which is sad, creepy, fanatical, delusional and joyous all at once.

Nonetheless, for the past month, I have been watching my coveted collection of Felicity DVDs. The show, which is based on a girl who follows her high school crush to college in hopes they will fall madly in love is, by far, J.J. Abrams‘s finest work.

Yet, something doesn’t match up. How can one of the world’s coolest uber-geeks create a show about a super-endearing, cupie-faced girl with overflowing locks of innocence? For crying out loud, he is responsible for throwing a variety of fanboy bait into the Comic-Con friendly zeitgeist. For TV he has delivered the likes Lost and Alias — which have become iconic touchstones of popular culture. In the movies, he recently cranked out a Spielbergian alien thriller Super 8 and managed to give Star Trek a sexy & hip makeover for commercial audiences without bastardizing the heritage of the beloved franchise.

As I write this, I am re-watching the pilot episode of season one of Felicity. The series ran for a total of four years — each coinciding with the heroine’s Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior years at UNY (I assumed that is a fictitious NYU). In one of the commentaries (Yes, I have watched the episodes WITH the commentaries — multiple times. Yes, I am that serious of a fan.), Abrams said that the inspiration behind the character of Felicity was based on a girl he would see in high school who was constantly drawing. She drew posters for school plays and J.J. thought she was a genius. So, before graduation, he tried talking to her and she basically looked at him as if he were a freak.

Luckily, that’s not exactly how the show happened. It’s what it was modeled after. But J.J.’s experience is probably what would happen in the real world. For a guy to randomly go up to a girl and tell him what he thinks without ever talking to her is bold and a little creepy. More than that, for a girl to change her post high school-graduation plans and follow a guy to college is a bit psycho. Stalkerish even.

This creates the dynamic of Felicity Porter and Ben Covington — the stalker and stalkeree of the show.

But first, let’s explore the wonder that is Felicity.

I fell in love with the character of Felicity because of Keri Russell. My knowledge of Miss Russell beforehand did not go beyond her role in Honey I Blew Up the Kid and the half episode of Malibu Shores I watched. From the moment I first saw her on screen speaking to Sally (voiced, but never seen by the incomparable Janeane Garofalo) via a tape recorder the size of a cornish game hen, she reeled me in. It was her subdued energy; her awkward honesty; her soft-spoken fearlessness –and that hair. That bush of luscious lioness hair that would later become a source of controversy in the second season — but we’ll get to that later.

Felicity is someone who is this moral compass that isn’t afraid to make an ass of herself. As cute as she is, she has the balls to tell the truth — all the time. She has the ability to make everyone around her a better person — all the time. She overanalyzes things — all the time. She wears matronly sweaters — all the time (at least in the first season). She tries to do the right thing — all the time. And when she doesn’t do the right thing, she tries her hardest to make things right.

I relate to her. Everyone should relate to her. She’s kind of like Bella Swan from Twilight but a lot less annoying and a lot less constipated.

The thing about Felicity is that she is flawed and she isn’t afraid to admit it. Oftentimes, people lie to cover up their flaws which makes things worse. For instance, Felicity, in the very first episode nuts up and goes up to Ben (played with lispy masculinity by Scott Speedman) and admits to him, “I came to this college because of you.” It’s gut-wrenching. It makes the audience squirm — but for Felicity, she is uncomfortably comfortable. Later on in that same episode, she goes to his apartment in the middle of the night to divulge even more cringe-worthy secrets to Ben: she went through his college records, read his admission essay about his dead brother which we all find out was a fake essay to begin with (GASP!). In another episode titled “Cheating,” she rewrites one of Ben’s essays without his knowledge and puts everyone’s college career in jeopardy — and she owns up to it.

Then there is the whole ordeal with her virginity. Yes, Felicity is a virgin — no surprise here considering she was an introverted wallflower during high school. In episode three of season one (“Hot Objects”), Felicity makes one of her routine tapes to Sally; admitting that she wonders how it would be like to “be with a man for the first time…sexually.” By accident, this tape gets played during her first college party — and EVERYONE hears it! This is the kind of stuff you have nightmares about and/or submit to YM‘s “Say Anything” section which includes trivial embarrassing moments that make readers giggle and feel better about themselves.

She attempts to quench her need for sexual healing in the episode called “Gimme an O!” While dating her Resident Advisor, Noel (Scott Foley) she “schedules” a time to have him pop her cherry, which later goes down in flames — literally. Later in the season, their relationship is on the rocks because she still has obvious feelings for Ben and he still has a girlfriend named Hanna (Jennifer Garner) on the back burner. All goes to hell when Felicity ends up boinking Eli, the mysterious, super-hot, sensitive art student who gravitates towards jewelry made of beads, jade and strands of leather. He draws her. They do it in the studio. It’s very Titanic.

All of these scenarios are building blocks for Felicity’s college life — a life that I can relate to. A life that many of us could relate to. We all have “decisions” we have to make and, ultimately, Felicity shows us that, no matter what we decide — right or wrong — we just have to suck it up and deal with the consequences. In fact, Felicity kind of blurs the lines of right and wrong. For example, let’s examine her sweet lovemaking with Eli. Was it wrong? Well, not really. Her and Noel were on a “break” and she was acting on impulse. Sometimes we just can’t control our loins. Plus, Eli was hot. At the same time, was it the right thing to do? Not really — even though Noel and her were on a break, she should have controlled her horniness. She had no time to mourn her relationship.

Then again, Eli was hot.

Finally, there was the season one cliffhanger, which was probably the “Team Jacob vs. Team Edward” debate of 1998. Who was Felicity going to choose? Ben or Noel? In the last episode of season one, she was in a cab. She had the choice of meeting with Ben to drive cross-country or meet Noel at the airport to spend the summer with him in Berlin. It was, indeed, the hot topic of the late ’90s.

Bottom line is: Felicity is one of the greatest things ever created on TV because of 1.) the opening credits of candid black and white snapshots set to a serene Sarah Mclachlan-esque cooing soundtrack and 2.) the lovelorn escapades of the perfectly imperfect leading woman. The show is so great that you need to stay tuned for my second installment of my long-winded dissertation of the show (I foresee a possible third and fourth installment in the near future as well).